A few weeks ago I went out for dinner with a couple of my old school friends. This blog is not, as you may suspect, about the rekindling old relationships; the pair in question belong to the "some favourite people” category of my life and so I'm pleased to say I have relatively regular contact with them. No, it’s about a car one of my friends was driving.
As a petrol head, engine enthusiast this said friend knows her stuff about cars (having a best friend mechanic is a particularly skill I pride myself on). We laugh - because she is so small the garage tested her ability to haul tyres before giving her the job. But anyway that’s beside the point:
The week that we had decided to eat out coincided with a week’s worth of work related training for my friend. As a result she had been equipped with a company car to meet her transportation needs. So, naturally she drove to our eatery if choice in the company perk.
The car was nice (my non-professional evaluation). Fitting in with the sleek design of sibling models, this German brand doesn't often fail to please aesthetically; it was comfy and it “drove well”.
My friend harnesses genuine passion for the company for which she works, so if you're after more emotive opinion please do not hesitate to get in touch...
But wait, there was more! This car had been fitted with an innovative device that tells the driver when to change gear for the most efficient driving. Cool or what? We were suitably impressed.
This car, marrying together superficial and functional elements that aspire to provide the ultimate drivers’ experience, is surely at the forefront of upward moving developments? We were in a prototype of the future!
Oh, actually maybe we weren’t. This car didn’t have central locking.
"This car starts from £6000!”, defends my friend to this disheartened comment.
"Still. If I was buying a £6000 brand new car I would want central locking”, I retort. I mean come on, my second hand 51 reg plate has central locking!
“You don’t need central locking”
"But you like central locking” chimes my to-become ally. “I thought all new cars had it.”
"£6000!!"
But that's the point; this seemingly random monetary figure had no tangible value to us. What did have value, or significant lack of, was the missing central locking.
And the point of this story? Well it’s this:
In a time where technological advances allow brands to provide increasingly integrated and exponential innovation experiences surely they can’t afford to fail to deliver on the most basic luxuries that we take for granted. By neglecting the basics, that we as consumers understand and regard, are brands not undermining both the pioneering technology and their own image?
